DOCSLIB.ORG

Which Is the Most Authoritative Early Translation of Wilde's Salomé?

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Which Is the Most Authoritative Early Translation of Wilde's Salomé? View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Flinders Academic Commons English Studies, 2004, I, pp. 47-52 0013-838X/04/01-0047/$16.00 © Routledge 2004, Taylor & Francis Ltd. Taylor & Francis Group WHICH IS THE MOST AUTHORITATIVE EARLY TRANSLATION OF WILDE'S SALOMÉ? Oscar Wilde originally wrote and published his now famous and highly regarded play Salomé in French (Paris and London, 1893). A very inaccurate translation of it into English, by Wilde's beloved 'Bosie', Lord Alfred Douglas, led to much wrangling between Douglas and Wilde, who was profoundly disappointed with Douglas's work. However, it was, with some alterations, duly published nonetheless (London and Boston, 1894), with a dedication by Wilde 'To my Friend Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas the Translator of My Play'. So far, it has been assumed that this translation, which appeared while Wilde was still alive (he died in 1900), must despite all its faults be regarded as in essence 'the' English translation – the one to which scholars and others must in- evitably turn if they want to know the play in an English version of which Wilde at least partly approved. What has not been realised, however, is that Robert Ross, Wilde's literary executor, ensured that, a few years later, a more accurate translation of Salomé was published in a small volume called Salome: A Tragedy in One Act Translated from the French of Oscar Wilde (London and New York, 1906), and one much better again under the title Salome: A Tragedy in One Act Translated from the French of Oscar Wilde with Sixteen Drawings by Aubrey Beardsley (London and New York, 1912). The 1912 text provides by far the best translation of Wilde's French, and was published under the authority of Wilde's literary executor and life-long friend, who had been on the scene when Wilde and Douglas quarrelled about the Salomé translation. For these reasons, it should be regarded as the most authoritative translation of Salomé available. An important feature, moreover, is that the 1912 text is a very drastic, comprehensive revision of Douglas's 1894 translation. Thus, while it introduces a vast amount of newly translated material correcting faults in Douglas's rendering, it also preserves phrases and words which perhaps Wilde endorsed when the original translation went to press. Robert Ross was most likely himself the person to revise Douglas's transla- tion, first for the 1906 publication, and then, much more thoroughly, for that of 1912. He was thoroughly acquainted with Wilde and the troubles surrounding the publication of Douglas's 1894 text, was an ardent admirer of Salomé, knew French well enough, and as Wilde's literary executor no doubt believed that he was in the best position to publish a translation which Wilde would have sanctioned. Yet Ross never declared himself to be the new translator. In 1906, and again in 1912, he simply omitted the dedication to Douglas as the translator of Wilde's play: no new translator was mentioned, perhaps because he feared Douglas's irascible temperament and litigious bent, and no doubt also because there was, in fact, no other translator than Ross himself. We can gain some idea of Ross's attitude to these matters, and of the rela- 47 This is an electronic version of an article published in 'English Studies' vol.85, no.1 (2004), 47-52 . 'English Studies' is available online at: http://journalsonline.tandf.co.uk Daalder, Joost 2004. Which is the Most Authoritative Early Translation of Wilde's "Salomé"? 'English Studies', vol.85, no.1, 47-52. Archived at Flinders University: dspace.flinders.edu.au JOOST DAALDER tionship between the French text and the translations of 1894, 1906, and 1912, by turning to an intriguing passage which Ross wrote for Frank Harris, the no- torious author of My Life and Loves, who also produced, and self-published, a controversial biography of Wilde under the title of Oscar Wilde: His Life and Confessions (New York, 1916). Early editions of this book – all those preceding the version known simply as Oscar Wilde, published in London in 1938 – con- tain various bits and pieces lumped together as a final 'Appendix'. Close to the very end of this 'Appendix' is an item entitled 'Criticisms by Robert Ross'. Ross's contribution consists of a series of notes referring to passages in Harris's book and offering comments on them. One of these notes, concerning Salomé, is worth quoting in full: Do you [i.e. Frank Harris] happen to have compared Douglas' translation of Salome in Lane's First edition (with Beardsley's illustrations) with Lane's Second edition (with Beardsley's illus- trations) or Lane's little editions (without Beardsley's illustrations)? Or have you ever compared the aforesaid First edition with the original? Douglas' translation omits a great deal of the text and is actually wrong as a rendering of the text in many cases. I have had this out with a good many people. I believe Douglas is to this day sublimely unconscious that his text, of which there were never more than 500 copies issued in England, has been entirely scrapped; his name at my instance was removed from the current issues for the very good reason that the new translation is not his. But this is merely an observation not a correction.1 It is a pleasure to acknowledge my gratitude to Angela Kingston (at present completing a PhD on Wilde at the University of Adelaide) for drawing my at- tention to this passage. She had come across an incomplete quotation of it in Francis Winwar's Oscar Wilde and the Yellow 'Nineties (New York and Lon- don, 1940, p. 213), and she realised that what Ross says in the passage is of di- rect relevance to what I have argued in two previous articles: (1) 'A History of Confusion: The Two Earliest English Translations of Oscar Wilde's Salomé', Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand Bulletin, 26, 3 & 4 (2002), pp. 131-72, and (2) 'Confusion and Misattribution Concerning the Two Earliest English Translations of Salomé', The Oscholars, Vol. III, No. 2 (2003, access via <http:/homepages.gold.ac.uk/oscholars/>. The basic contentions of these two articles are as follows. In my view, which I support extensively with evidence, scholars and publishers have been mistaken in thinking that there is only one early translation of Wilde's play, namely that prepared by Douglas published in 1894. In addition to that translation, there are two others of higher authority, the first published in 1906, and another in 1912, each of them a significant revision of the 1894 text, clearly designed to eradicate Douglas's errors and to produce a translation much closer to Wilde's French. The 1912 text takes this process a good deal further than that of 1906. The first of the two articles mentioned above includes a lengthy Appendix (pp. 160- 72) which aims to list all the verbal differences between the 1894 text and 1 I quote from Frank Harris, Oscar Wilde: His Life and Confessions (New York, 1918), p. 608, which readers may find easier to locate than the first edition of 1916. Both were self-published. However, the Garden City edition published in New York in 1930 is more readily found than the 1916 and 1918 versions: it prints the passage on pp. 460-61. 48 This is an electronic version of an article published in 'English Studies' vol.85, no.1 (2004), 47-52 . 'English Studies' is available online at: http://journalsonline.tandf.co.uk Daalder, Joost 2004. Which is the Most Authoritative Early Translation of Wilde's "Salomé"? 'English Studies', vol.85, no.1, 47-52. Archived at Flinders University: dspace.flinders.edu.au EARLY TRANSLATION OF WILDE'S SALOMÉ the revised 1906 version. A similar list for the 1912 text remains to be compiled, but as some startling examples below will indicate, there is no doubt that it will establish the superiority of that text over its two predecessors. The literary and linguistic nature of the 1906 text is analysed in great detail in my paper for the BSANZ Bulletin, showing just how inadequate and perverse Douglas's 1894 version is, and how much better Ross's, when each of these two translations is compared with Wilde's French. The great significance of the comment Ross presented to Harris is that it lends considerable support to what I argued in my two previous papers. In turn, my work in preparing those papers enables me to elucidate Ross's statement, the significance of which has so far apparently gone largely unnoticed. I shall now explicate his paragraph in some detail. What Ross describes as 'Douglas' translation of Salome in Lane's First edi- tion (with Beardsley's illustrations)' is, of course, the 1894 publication of Dou- glas's translation which Wilde was loath to accept, although the dedication to Douglas diplomatically acknowledges him as 'the translator of my play'. In Stuart Mason's Bibliography of Oscar Wilde (London, 1914), which is more informative on early editions of Salomé than any subsequent book, this volume is listed as No 350. Its full title is Salome: A Tragedy in One Act Translated from the French of Oscar Wilde Pictured by Aubrey Beardsley. It was published in London by Elkin Mathews and John Lane, and in Boston by Copeland and Day. Corroborating Ross's claim towards the end of his passage, this 1894 publication contains the information that 'Of this edition 500 copies have been printed for England'. (However, Ross should also have mentioned a special `luxury' edition, Mason No 351, published in the same year, which explains: `Of this edition 100 copies have been printed for England'.) What Ross designates as `Lane's Second edition (with Beardsley's illustra- tions)' is not actually the edition mentioned above which appeared in 1906, but one which – though it contains the identical text – was not published until 1907, viz.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • English Translation of the German by Tom Hammond
    Richard Strauss Susan Bullock Sally Burgess John Graham-Hall John Wegner Philharmonia Orchestra Sir Charles Mackerras CHAN 3157(2) (1864 –1949) © Lebrecht Music & Arts Library Photo Music © Lebrecht Richard Strauss Salome Opera in one act Libretto by the composer after Hedwig Lachmann’s German translation of Oscar Wilde’s play of the same name, English translation of the German by Tom Hammond Richard Strauss 3 Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Judea John Graham-Hall tenor COMPACT DISC ONE Time Page Herodias, his wife Sally Burgess mezzo-soprano Salome, Herod’s stepdaughter Susan Bullock soprano Scene One Jokanaan (John the Baptist) John Wegner baritone 1 ‘How fair the royal Princess Salome looks tonight’ 2:43 [p. 94] Narraboth, Captain of the Guard Andrew Rees tenor Narraboth, Page, First Soldier, Second Soldier Herodias’s page Rebecca de Pont Davies mezzo-soprano 2 ‘After me shall come another’ 2:41 [p. 95] Jokanaan, Second Soldier, First Soldier, Cappadocian, Narraboth, Page First Jew Anton Rich tenor Second Jew Wynne Evans tenor Scene Two Third Jew Colin Judson tenor 3 ‘I will not stay there. I cannot stay there’ 2:09 [p. 96] Fourth Jew Alasdair Elliott tenor Salome, Page, Jokanaan Fifth Jew Jeremy White bass 4 ‘Who spoke then, who was that calling out?’ 3:51 [p. 96] First Nazarene Michael Druiett bass Salome, Second Soldier, Narraboth, Slave, First Soldier, Jokanaan, Page Second Nazarene Robert Parry tenor 5 ‘You will do this for me, Narraboth’ 3:21 [p. 98] First Soldier Graeme Broadbent bass Salome, Narraboth Second Soldier Alan Ewing bass Cappadocian Roger Begley bass Scene Three Slave Gerald Strainer tenor 6 ‘Where is he, he, whose sins are now without number?’ 5:07 [p.
    [Show full text]
  • Moreau's Materiality: Polymorphic Subjects, Degeneration, and Physicality Mary C
    Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2009 Moreau's Materiality: Polymorphic Subjects, Degeneration, and Physicality Mary C. Slavkin Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF VISUAL ARTS, THEATRE AND DANCE MOREAU’S MATERIALITY: POLYMORPHIC SUBJECTS, DEGENERATION, AND PHYSICALITY By MARY C. SLAVKIN A Thesis submitted to the Department of Art History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2009 The Members of the Committee approve the Thesis of Mary Slavkin defended on March 30, 2009. ___________________________ Lauren Weingarden Professor Directing Thesis ___________________________ Richard Emmerson Committee Member ___________________________ Adam Jolles Committee Member Approved: _______________________________________________ Richard Emmerson, Chair, Department of Art History _______________________________________________ Sally McRorie, Dean, College of Visual Arts, Theatre and Dance The Graduate School has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii For David. Thanks for all the tea. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES..........................................................................................................v ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................ix CHAPTER 1: Introduction...............................................................................................1
    [Show full text]
  • Salome: the Image of a Woman Who Never Was
    Salome: The Image of a Woman Who Never Was Salome: The Image of a Woman Who Never Was; Salome: Nymph, Seducer, Destroyer By Rosina Neginsky Salome: The Image of a Woman Who Never Was; Salome: Nymph, Seducer, Destroyer, By Rosina Neginsky This book first published 2013 Cambridge Scholars Publishing 12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2013 by Rosina Neginsky All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-4621-X, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-4621-9 To those who crave love but are unable to love. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Illustrations ..................................................................................... ix Epigraph: Poem “Salome” by Rosina Neginsky ........................................ xv Preface ...................................................................................................... xxi Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 Part I: Creation of the Salome Myth Chapter One ................................................................................................. 8 History and Myth in the Biblical Story Chapter Two .............................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Reading the Emotions of Salome: Sympathy for the Devil Or Fear and Loathing Diane Hoeveler Marquette University, [email protected]
    Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette English Faculty Research and Publications English, Department of 1-1-2001 Reading the Emotions of Salome: Sympathy for the Devil or Fear and Loathing Diane Hoeveler Marquette University, [email protected] Published Version. Prism(s): Essays in Romanticism, Vol. 9 (2001): 87-108. © 2001 International Conference on Romanticism. Used With Permission. A Reading of the Emotions of Salome: Sympathy for the Devil, or Fear and Loathing Diane Long Hoeveler n October 1876 Gustave Flaubert was engaged in writing what I would become perhaps his most well-known and successful piece of short fiction, "A Simple Heart." This narrative dissects the life of an innocent servant woman, ironically named Felicity, who rransfers her love and spiritual devotion from object to object until she finally settles, afrer life's many disappointments, on a stuffed and tattered parrot as the incarnation of her god of love. The horror of Flaubert's story can be located in his dark and cynical portrayal of love and spiritual devotion as a form of fetishism, a mad scramble for apparently random substitute objects to compensate for the original wound in the psyche, the primor­ dial fall we all supposedly make from a sense of original wholeness and self-sufficiency within the individual ego into psychic fragmentation. Felicity's pathetic stuffed parrot functions as a fetish, while fetishism-or the displacement of the sexual object by a metonymic substitute-stands in Flaubert as the originating source of both love and religious worship. 1 88 Diane Long Hoeveh Although often considered the exact opposite of a "romantic" work, Flaubert's tale is important as an example of what I would call the "post­ romantic residue," the reaction against romanticism that lingered in nineteenth-century literary culture, on the continent as well as in Britain.
    [Show full text]
  • The Importance of Salomé: Approaches to a Fin De Siècle Theme
    THE IMPORTANCE OF SALOMÉ: APPROACHES TO A FIN DE SIÈCLE THEME Anthony Pym Published in French Forum 14/3 (1989): 311-322. Salomé: Topic and Theme Salomé dances; John the Baptist is beheaded; and that, so it would seem, is enough to define one of the most extensive themes of high Modernism. But although Salomé has been well studied and documented as a textual corpus1, no researcher has yet seriously posed the problem of how such a theme should be approached, nor why this particular corpus should be of any particular importance to literary history. This is moreover a problem of thematics as a whole, which has long tended to be overwhelmed by its material and not sufficiently endowed with serious thought about why and how such investigations should be undertaken. In this sense, careful treatment of Salomé may to some extent exemplify a more general methodological strategy, and should hopefully lead thematics to cut short some of its more useless endeavors and say something of or about historical importance. An essentially pragmatic Stoffgeschichte would accept as Salomé virtually any woman going by that name. But should one also accept every woman named Herodias or Hérodiade, the mother occasionally confused with her generally dancing daughter? Should acceptance similarly be extended to a Salomé who speaks instead of dancing (Laforgue), who becomes a devout Christian (Heywood), or who lives in New York (Yezierska)? And what might then be done with a narrative that makes structural reference to Salomé but insists on calling her “La Fanfarlo” and replaces the beheading with the far more modern catastrophe of bourgeois marriage and the birth of twins? This kind of questioning quickly reveals the fragility of most attempts of distinguish any one theme from another.
    [Show full text]
  • Robert Ross Memorial Collection: Envelopes Box 1: Ross Env
    Robert Ross Memorial Collection: Envelopes Box 1: Ross Env b.2 - Ross Env b.10; Ross Env c.1 - Ross Env c.35 Ross Env b.2 (Ross b.2: Pan, Vols. 19, 31, 32). Contents (5 items): 4 letters, 1 set of notes. Ross Env b.2.i A letter (1 leaf, manuscript) from H.V.S. [Hedley Vicars Storey, author and bookseller, manager of the Shelley Book Agency, 1870-1929] to Christopher Millard [Christopher Sclater Millard, author and bookseller, 1872- 1927]; dated 14th February 1912. Storey writes that he has been unwell and has gone to Brighton to recover. He explains that he has written to a friend in Oxford who will look at Pan and get the information Millard wants, noting that he was not well enough to go to the Bodleian before he left Oxford but will write again when he hears more. He also writes that he has something to send to Millard and that he recently read Millard’s letter about Oscar Wilde’s letters [the title of the publication not deciphered] and that he bought one of Wilde’s letters two years ago and, although he sold it, kept a copy which he asks if Millard would like to see. He concludes by sympathising with Millard over his financial situation and explaining that he too has yet to make his fortune, noting that his partnership was the ‘biggest trouble of my life’ [the name of Storey’s partner could not be deciphered]. Ross Env b.2.ii A letter (1 leaf, manuscript) from Hedley Storey to Christopher Millard; dated 3rd March 1912; written on headed stationery: “Shelley Book Agency for social reform literature…books, pamphlets, blue books, and periodicals…Gloucester Street, Oxford”.
    [Show full text]
  • Herodias and Salome: Worldly Women
    Herodias and Salome: worldly Women INTRODUCTION Among the female characters of the Bible, Herodias and her daughter, Salome proved to be a deadly duo of evil. Through Herodias’ adulterous marriage to King Herod Antipas, they both arose to a high position of power and royal prestige (Mark 6:17, 22). John the Baptist’s message of repentance and public exposure of their adultery posed an enormous threat to their royal station and sinful way of living. His holy words must have weighed heavily upon the conscience of the king. Salome’s mother, Herodias was the dominating influence of evil in her daughter’s life. She instructed her as an apprentice in evil. Under her mother’s control, Salome carried out a mission of destruction by willingly submitting to be an accomplice to her mother’s secret scheme. They were women who deliberately and consciously devised a murderous plot to imprison and then silence one of God’s greatest and anointed messengers. These powerful women used their beauty and seductive nature to influence Herod in ordering the death of John the Baptist. SCRIPTURE MEMORY VERSE And thou [John], child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways; to give knowledge of salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins (Luke 1:76, 77). Names Given to the Women in this Story Herodias . Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for Philip’s wife Herodias’ sake, his brother Philips’s wife: for he had married her (Mark 6:17).
    [Show full text]
  • Robert Ross Memorial Collection Miscellanea in Boxes Box 1
    Robert Ross Memorial Collection Miscellanea in boxes *Transferred to new boxes and envelopes: May 2014. Old Bodleian box marked: ‘Date 2/85…damaged’. Box 1: Ross Box 1.1 Contents (3 items): 1 envelope containing: 1 letter; 1 pamphlet. Envelope addressed to Walter Ledger; postmark dated 23rd June 1927. 1.1.i - Letter (1 leaf) from Vyvyan Beresford Holland (1886-1967, author & translator, son of Oscar Wilde) to Walter Ledger; dated 23rd June 1927; written on headed notepaper: ‘41, Carlyle Square[e] Chelsea, S.W.3. Kensington 2916’. Manuscript note: ‘With very best wishes from Vyvyan Holland’. 1.1.ii - Pamphlet (8 leaves, 7 p., sewn): ‘A Few Odd Reflections on Idleness’ compiled by Vyvyan Holland. Title page: ‘A few odd reflections on idleness Collected by Vyvyan Holland Idler To the sette [sic] of odd volumes and presented by him on Ladies’ Night Jun 22, 1927’. Edition: ‘227 Copies of these Reflections have been printed for presentation only. This is No. 145 [number in manuscript]. Manuscript note on verso of second leaf: ‘Walter Ledger from Vyvyan Holland 23.vi.27’. Includes printer’s mark: ‘Idler’. Ross Box 1.2 Contents (5 items): 1 envelope containing: 2 photographs; 2 newspaper cuttings. Envelope addressed to Walter Ledger from ‘The Investment Trust Corporation Limited, Gresham House, Old Broad Street, London, E.C. 2.; no postmark; postage paid stamp on reverse. Manuscript note in ink on front: ‘402’. 1.2.i - Photograph (postcard) showing Salomé performed by Tilla Durieux (born Ottilie Godeffroy, 1880-1971, actress) as Salomé and Max Eisfeldt ([Eisfeld?] 1863 – 1935?, actor) as Jochanaan.
    [Show full text]
  • The Judas Kiss
    2016 BAM Winter/Spring #TheJudasKiss Brooklyn Academy of Music Alan H. Fishman, Chairman of the Board William I. Campbell, Vice Chairman of the Board Adam E. Max, Vice Chairman of the Board Katy Clark, President Joseph V. Melillo, Executive Producer The Judas Kiss BAM Harvey Theater May 11—14, 17—21, 24—28 & 31, Jun 1—4, 7—11 at 7:30pm; May 14, 21, 28, Jun 4 & 11 at 2pm; May 15, 22, 29, Jun 5 & 12 at 3pm Running time: approx. two hours & 20 mins. including intermission Written by David Hare Directed by Neil Armfield Chichester Festival Theatre in association with Robert Fox, Theatre Royal Bath Productions, and Hampstead Theatre Productions Season Sponsor: Set design by Dale Ferguson Costume design by Sue Blane Major support for theater at BAM provided by: The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation Lighting design by Rick Fisher The Francena T. Harrison Foundation Trust Sound design by Paul Groothuis Donald R. Mullen Jr. Original Casting Director Cara Beckinsale CDG The Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc. The Morris and Alma Schapiro Fund Composed by Alan John The SHS Foundation The Shubert Foundation, Inc. Additional support provided by Broadway Stages. The Judas Kiss FOR THE JUDAS KISS General manager Kathy Bourne Associate director Jonathan O’Boyle Costume supervisor Allan Watkins Co-Costume supervisor/Wardrobe mistress Josie Thomas Wigs supervisor Helen Keelan Associate lighting Andrew Murrell Associate sound David Gregory Production manager Simon Marlow Production carpenter Micky Murray Company stage manager Ba Penney Deputy stage manager Sophia Dalton Canadian assistant stage manager Kathleen Harrison Rehearsal assistant stage manager Paul Puttock American stage manager R.
    [Show full text]
  • Wilde: Salome William Tydeman and Steven Price Excerpt More Information
    Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-45423-0 - Wilde: Salome William Tydeman and Steven Price Excerpt More information INTRODUCTION It is only in recent decades that Oscar Wilde's one-act drama Salome has attained what many see as its rightful degree of prominence in the Wildean canon. More castigated than complimented on its first published appearance in French in 1893 and in English translation the following year, 1 denied public presentation in Britain until 1931, Salome frequently suffered during its early existence from being adjudged a work reflecting the extravagant lifestyle and outrageous attitudes of a writer who after May 1895 had to endure the stigma of an exposed and convicted homosexual. The subsequent cult of overt, self-conscious masculinity which dominated the last years of Queen Victoria's reign rejected all art that its adherents characterised as outre, decadent, morbid, unnatural, perverted and unwholesome: Salome seemed tailor-made for disapprobation on precisely such grounds. Yet even when Wilde's reputation recovered sufficiently to assume that of a 'tragic genius', the instability of Salomes critical popularity and the infrequency of its theatrical realisation often left his most experimental play isolated as an apparent aberration among the complete works. Yet for the more dispassionate observers of his own day, Wilde's exotic symbolist sidelight on a popular biblical incident might not have stood out quite so signally from amongst his dra­ matic oeuvre as a flagrant anomaly, had they examined its stage pre­ decessors more carefully. His two ventures into territories unfamiliar to the average contemporary playgoer, prior to the success of Lady Windermere's Fan in 1892, did something to prepare them for the emotional and linguistic intensity, if not the superb theatrical concentration, Wilde achieved in the handling of the traditional © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-45423-0 - Wilde: Salome William Tydeman and Steven Price Excerpt More information 2 .
    [Show full text]
  • The Salomes of Hedwig Lachmann, Marcus Behmer, and Richard Strauss
    Re-(en)visioning Salome: The Salomes of Hedwig Lachmann, Marcus Behmer, and Richard Strauss by Norma Chapple A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfillment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in German Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2006 © Norma Chapple 2006 AUTHOR’S DECLARATION FOR ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION OF A THESIS I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. ii Abstract Re-(en)visioning Salome: The Salomes of Hedwig Lachmann, Marcus Behmer, and Richard Strauss Oscar Wilde overshadows the German reception of Salome (1891), yet his text is a problematic one. Wilde’s one-act drama is a mosaic text, influenced by the abundance of literary and artistic treatments of the Salome figure during the fin de siècle. Moreover, Wilde did not write Salome in his native tongue, but rather in French, and allowed it to be edited by a number of French poets. Furthermore, the translation of the text proved problematic, resulting in a flawed English rendering dubiously ascribed to Lord Alfred Douglas. However, there is a German mediator whose translation of Wilde’s play is less problematic than the original. Hedwig Lachmann produced a translation of Salome in 1900 that found success despite having to compete with other German translations. Lachmann’s translation alters, expands, and improves on Wilde’s French original. In contrast to Wilde’s underlexicalised original, Lachmann’s translation displays an impressive lexical diversity.
    [Show full text]
  • SALOME Richard Strauss
    PRESENTS SALOME Richard Strauss EDUCATOR’S GUIDE PRESENTS SALOME FIRST PERFORMANCE December 9, 1905, Semperoper Dresden, Dresden, Germany CARL W. KNOBLOCH, JR. GENERAL & ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Tomer Zvulun COMPOSER MANAGING DIRECTOR Richard Strauss Micah Fortson LIBRETTIST CARL & SALLY GABLE MUSIC DIRECTOR Richard Strauss Arthur Fagen DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION CREATIVE Kevin Mynatt DIRECTOR OF ARTISTIC ADMINISTRATION CONDUCTOR Lauren Bailey Arthur Fagen CHIEF ADVANCEMENT OFFICER DIRECTOR Paul Harkins Tomer Zvulun ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT SCENIC & PROJECTIONS DESIGNER Amy Davis Erhard Rom DIRECTOR OF MARKETING LIGHTING DESIGNER Holly Hanchey Robert Wierzel ASSOCIATE TECHNICAL DIRECTOR COSTUME DESIGNER Joshua S. Jansen Mattie Ullrich AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT CHOREOGRAPHER & EDUCATION MANAGER Amir Levy Jessica Kiger EDUCATION COORDINATOR Alexandria Sweatt CAST HEROD ANTIPAS Frank Van Aken HERODIAS Jennifer Larmore SALOME Jennifer Holloway JOCHANAAN Nathan Berg NARRABOTH Adam Diegel 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS SALOME TITLE PAGE ............................................................................................................................. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................... 3 WELCOME ............................................................................................................................... 4 SYNOPSIS: WHAT’S THE OPERA ABOUT? ...................................................................... 5 MEET THE CHARACTERS ...................................................................................................
    [Show full text]